With prices going higher and higher, it’s quite hard to manage a household budget. That is especially true when it comes to food, whether you’re shopping for yourself or for your family. That is why you must learn tips to save money when you buy groceries. Fortunately for you, that is exactly what we brought to your doorstep today. By going through and implementing these tips, you’ll find yourself saving a fortune and probably eating better too. Let’s dive right in.
Shop Your Pantry
A lot of people waste a lot of money buying items that they don’t use so the first thing you must do is to shop your pantry. How do you do this? Well, firstly, take a careful look at your pantry, fridge, and freezer before heading to the store. Look at what you have and what you don’t so that you can buy your groceries with accuracy. This might sound like an annoying chore but you’ll soon see that it’s a great tip and you’ll find yourself saving thousands of dollars annually. After all, ignoring this tip is the reason why you likely have multiples of one product in your pantry.
Make A List & Check It Twice
This point should be fairly obvious but you’ll be surprised at how many American shoppers completely skip it. When you go shopping, always have a list. In fact, after inspecting your pantry, write a list so that you know exactly what you’re going to buy. By doing this you can control both the items to buy and also know how much you’re going to spend at the grocery stop. Don’t ignore this list, please. We can assure you that you will buy several things you don’t need if you forget your list at home.
Use Store Apps For More Savings
This particular tip is not universal but it is still a crucial one so we’ll put it here still. You see, many grocery stores these days have their applications and often they post deals, coupons, and promos there. If you use them frequently, you’ll find that you can save a lot of money this way with minimal effort. Pretty cool if we do say so ourselves.
Shop On Wednesdays
This is going to sound weird and we can already hear you asking us what shopping on Wednesday does but trust us, you’ll want to hear this. You see, being the middle of the week, grocery stores tend to be less crowded on Wednesday evenings meaning fewer distractions in shops. This means that you can navigate the aisles at your pace, with no hurry or pressure. This will allow you to stay focused when shopping and also prevent you from being in long queues unnecessarily. Given how much of a chore shopping can be, we know that both your wallet and your body will thank us for this.
Buy Whole Fruits And Veggies
We know that most of the time people buy pre-chopped onions, carrots, and everything else. The convenience is simply unbeatable. However such convenience comes at a cost and that cost is usually sustained at the expense of your wallet. Well, given that we are saving money, we need to do away with this. Start buying your fruits and vegetables whole and doing the work yourself. You can argue that it is more tedious and you’ll be right but let’s save money and just do the work ourselves.
Use Generic Products
We know that most of you love specific name-brand products and you are willing to pay an extra penny for that. Well, guess what, these pennies add up. If you’re trying to save money like we all are right now, start to buy store-brand versions instead. You’ll find that these options are typically significantly cheaper and contain the same basic ingredients. So do away with the premium-priced brands and go generic.
Pay Attention To Unit Prices
This particular tip will have you doing math so you should whip out your calculator right about now. The basic premise of this is that if you know the unit prices for certain products, you could know which stores to buy that same product from in batches and save some money. So what you need to do is just figure out the unit price (which is the total cost divided by the number of units) and then compare that price to other stores. Done well, and buying in bulk, you can save a lot of money.
Don’t Go To The Store Hungry
This is a pro tip that you really ought to listen to. You can not under any circumstances afford to go to the store hungry. That’s because instead of shopping with your head, you’ll certainly shop with your stomach if you do. If you have any experience with this then you certainly know that it results in you buying things you don’t need and buying random groceries in spades. To top it all you’ll be buying processed foods which are generally more expensive as well. How about you take it easy on your wallet and you just skip this step in its entirety? Eat at home, the shop later.
Skip The Bigger Carts
Every grocery store has various cart sizes to cater to all their different clients. If you know you are not going to do heavy shopping, grab a basket or a mini cart. The temptation that comes with getting the big cart only to want to fill it up is immense and many of us here have been victims of that siren-like call. So avoid buying more and just stick to a small cart or basket. Okay?